Conrart Weller sighed, it was one of his now frequent days off and he was currently ensconced in his favorite leather arm chair deep within the palace archives, with an old leather bound, vellum tome in front of him. The book was one of the Nation's treasures. No one really knew where it had come from. They just knew that once it had belonged to Daikenja. The great tome was a compellation of every type of Dragon known to have inhabited their world before the time of the great one.

The soft sound of Gabriel shifting his position against the wall grated his nerves and he did his best not to snap at the man. Gabriel was only acting on Gwendal's orders. He was well aware of the fact that the majority of his family was worried about. Still it was aggravating to have the lot of them think him weak enough to actually commit suicide now that he'd actually found Temeraire. He had survived over 100 years without his dragon; he could go a little longer.

He smiled at the thought of the gift he'd had made for Temeraire. A net of pure gold wire to ornament Temeraire's beautiful black frill, set with diamonds and Sapphires. It had cost him a heavy sum, but it was worth it. He wanted to give his dear friend everything in this life that he had been unable to give him in his last.

Temeraire had crossed ocean's, fought in a war, left China and his newly found family and love behind, the Dragon had even flown into exile out of his love for his captain. For Laurence Temeraire had stayed in Australia and accepted the handling of an abusive captain for three long years, doing his best to comfort and protect Laurence, despite the man's urging him to fly away.

He was a prince now, and a Lord, he was going to spoil his Dragon this time – even if it meant doing it in the limited time he would have with his friend.

Yuri was planning a trip back to Earth in a few weeks, and while his king was planning to send him to Japan's Dragon Park at that time – he had to admit the wait was agonizing. The fact that his beloved dragon was sitting in what amounted to an amusement park, galled him to no end. Temeraire should have been treated with more respect than that.

The Door banged open with a startling clatter. He glanced up at the man who'd come barreling so disrespectfully into the library, suppressing the urge to snap at the man.

"Sir," the man wheezed, "Lieutenant Gurrier, sent me to tell you that – and I quote – 'your imagination is running amuck in the Courtyard' Sir!"

Conrart blinked, it couldn't be. Could it? When they were younger Yozak – and everyone else - had referred to Temeraire as being a figment of his overactive imagination. Yozak wouldn't joke about this. Would he? Regardless he had to find out. He was on his feet and running through the palace halls before the man – Andrew, he thought his name may have been Andrew – had even had a chance to catch his breath.

He burst out the side door into the courtyard a few minutes later, breathing hard, and froze at the sight of the Enormous dragon standing in the courtyard, with one foot in the rubble of what used to be the ornamental fountain of King Yuri (holding a lemon and wearing 'pumpkin pants,' ) that Stoffel had had erected last year. Well that should please Yuri at least, he hated that fountain. He thought mildly, not even realizing that he was running until the soft click, click clicking of his boot heels on the cobblestone became a heavy drumming in his ears that pounded in time with his heartbeat.

"Temeraire," he cried when he was close enough.

His breath was coming in gasps, and to his horror he tripped on the cobblestone walk and pitched forward. He would have fallen if not for the sinuous tail that wrapped gently under him. Temeraire had caught him with the last few feet of his tail. The dragon was gentle when he lifted him, carefully depositing him on his feet like a mother with a clumsy toddler. He hugged that tail to his chest. "Temeraire," he breathed trying to reconcile the fact that his dragon was here. They were finally together again. He felt the tail lifting up, curving around his shoulder, holding him closer, and he clung to it even when he felt his feet leaving the ground.

"How did you get here?" he asked once Temeraire had set him down between his fore claws.

UDWUDW

Temeraire lowered his immense head and gently nuzzled Conrart, before responding. "Your Great One brought me here, so that we could be together." carefully he coiled his sinuous tail around his forelegs like a giant cat, blocking Conrart from any harm that might befall him should the armed men around them choose to attack them. "Oh Conrart, I'm so glad we are reunited, the last month was miserable!"

"Captain, are you alright in there?" the man with the oddly colored hair asked.

"I'm fine Yozak." Conrart called back, then added, "Temeraire would never hurt me."

UDWUDW

Gwendal sighed as he listened to Günter shriek. The King's advisor was less than happy about the fact that there was a dragon sleeping in the courtyard, and even less happy about the fact that Conrart was currently sleeping under the stars, using said dragon as a pillow. He was ranting about the dangers, and the legality of the matter. Gwendal had tried to remind him that while dragon's where protected under the law, he doubted that Dikenja's law about leaving Dragon's unmolested encompassed such an occurrence. The Dragon came from a different world, and as such he highly doubted that the law would apply to Temeraire. The Dragon who was currently refusing to let Conrart out of his sight for longer then it took for Conrart to relieve himself.

Not that Conrart currently seemed to mind.

UDWUDW

Yozak Gurrier stared out the window to the bedroom he normally shared with Conrart. It was raining out and water was falling from the sky in mighty sheets – and Conrart had yet to come in out of the rain. Even at this distance he could see the massive tarp draped form of Temeraire. He knew that somewhere tucked into that mass was the man he already saw as his spouse.

He shifted slightly wondering if Conrad meant to come in at all or if he deemed it necessary to prove his loyalty to the dragon by catching his death of pneumonia. It wouldn't be the first time he'd caught it in the last five years.

Still he worried.

Conrad was strong, but he was also loyal to a fault.

Did the man even have a blanket out there in the cold and wet?

Or was he simply sheltering beside the great reptile?

His decision made, Yozak rose to his feet and dug the heavy clear waterproof bag Yuri had given to Conrart so that he could accompany him to earth out from under the bed. Unzipping the thing carefully, he set it onto one of the chairs in the room and set about stripping the bed and bundling the bedding up before shoving it into the case. He then grabbed hold of one of the bed's smaller but still fluffy pillows and attempted to shove that into the clear plastic case. He had to sit on the thing to get it to close. After zipping the damned thing shut again he took it by the handle and after pulling on a waterproof coat – he left the room.

The least he could do was make sure Conrart was warm.

IF he could have he would have dragged the other man kicking and screaming back to his warm bed. However he didn't think the dragon would allow it. He didn't speak English, and his Japanese was less then useful. As such he had no way of communicating with Temeraire, save for using Conrart or King Yuri as an intermediary.

Conrart he knew – would never translate what he had to say to the dragon because it meant revealing his own weakness. He'd nearly died of pneumonia just a scant two months ago. His lungs had yet to fully recover, and Gisela had informed him that he could die if he caught it again this year.

Yet Conrart was sitting out in the rain with only a dragon to keep him warm and dry – it wasn't enough.

"Conrart?" The rest of the sentence that woke him was an unintelligible jumble of unfamiliar syllables. Temeraire lifted his head from where it was tucked under the shelter of one wing and the further comfort offered by the tent canvas his Captain had ordered stretched over him to keep the rain out. His captain was curled up on his foreleg sleeping soundly despite the shivers he could feel coursing through his body. Temeraire had tried to get Conrart to go inside to sleep, but Conrart had refused, wanting to stay close to him. The man with the odd hair gently patted his muzzle, said something in his nearly incomprehensible language and slipped past him headed towards his sleeping captain.

Temeraire was pleased to note that he understood a few scattered words in the tangle. Conrart had been teaching him his language for the past week, and while it appeared he had a long way to go, at least he was making progress.

The man set the clear case he was carrying down and reaching out gently shook Conrart's shoulder. Conrart awoke slowly, and Temeraire couldn't help noticing the way he blinked and looked around. "Yozak?" he whispered, and Temeraire realized the red head was his captain's lover. For a moment he was confused, he had expected 'Yozak' to be female – although he had to admit he had wondered at the name.

"But, Conrart," he said in surprise "he is male. Surely this cannot be the lover you mentioned."

Conrart gazed up at him. His heartbeat quickening, he looked and smelled distinctly uncomfortable. "It is not uncommon." He said after a second in English. Then almost uncertainly he added, "Men of the demon tribe are capable of getting pregnant- there is a ritual involved - so it does not matter if we wed each other or if we take a woman into our beds."

Temeraire bobbed his head in a gesture he'd learned over the long years living among humans. "I see, and when the time comes, will you sire my next captain so that I may stay in the family? Or will you bear one like Jane did for Exspidium?"

"Temeraire." Conrart yelped turning an interesting shade of red as he spoke. Yozak sent him a questioning look, and his captain said something in his native language that Temeraire only half understood and the other man roared with laughter.

The man gestured towards the case he'd been carrying and said something about 'cold'. Conrart made a soft indignant sound and replied in the same tangle of incomprehensible words. Temeraire couldn't help wondering how much longer it would be before he learned to speak the demon language. But then it had been less than a week since he'd gotten here.

"Gisela," "cold" and "die" where the only words Temeraire caught from Yozak's reply. He lowered his head, briefly extending and then flattening his frill. Keeping his muzzle level with his rider's lover's head, he demanded a full translation of what had sounded suspiciously like a threat.

Conrart sighed, "Yozak is berating me for not coming in out of the rain like I should have. I've thrown myself into my work a lot more than usual this past year. I've caught pneumonia twice, Yozak, was just reminding me of what Gisela said might happen if I caught it a third time this year."

Temeraire felt his frill snap up before he flattened it in distress, "you're staying with me is a danger to your life?" he asked then added. "Why didn't you go inside when it started to rain?"

"As I told Yozak I am fine and quite warm where I am. He needn't worry. Neither should you, Temeraire, I'm quite well."

While they'd been speaking Yozak had opened the case and had begun to pull out the bedding held within its confines. Temeraire cocked his head to the side as the man, draped the bedding over Conrart, enveloping his captain and his arm in the soft fluffy warmth of the thick comforter and sheets. Conrart said something that sounded like an inquiry. When Yozak answered his tone was light. He handed Conrart a pillow and made a hand gesture Temeraire didn't recognize. "Are you sure?" Conrart asked quietly.

"Quite." Yozak replied.

Conrart slid forward on his arm, clutching the pillow to his chest, and Yozak climbed up onto his leg behind his captain. Conrart handed Yozak the pillow and Yozak placed it between Temeraire's leg and his head, leaning back into his captain's customary spot. He wrapped his arms around Conrart as the smaller man leaned up against his chest using him as a pillow. Conrart pulled the blankets up around them both. "Good night Temeraire." He said after a moment and closed his eyes.

Temeraire felt the other man, Yozak; pat his arm with one hand. "Yes, good night Temeraire." He said before wrapping his arms around Conrart again and closing his eyes.

Idly Temeraire wondered if Lily had ever had her captain and Captain's mate cuddle on her arm, then dismissed it, before tucking his head back under the shelter of his wings, and lowering his head to the ground. He went back to sleep, and dreamed of flying through the sky with his captain again.

UDWUDWUDW

Yuri paused and blinked at the sight of Conrart walking down the halls of Covenant Castle with his arms full of what looked like every belt he owned. Then he smiled wondering just what the man was up to.

UDWUDWUDW

Conrart dumped his armload of belts at Temeraire's feet and tried to figure out the best way to jury-rig a harness out of the thin strips of leather. He was wearing one belt to which he'd sown two extra leather straps with a metal clip dangling from each, it was the closest he could come to the harnessing apparatus, he remembered from his dreams.

Temeraire lowered his head and looked at the belts with a critical eye. "Maybe if you lace them all together, you can make a collar out of them."

Conrart smiled, "that's what I was thinking." He said in his own tongue. In the week since Yozak had come and spent that rainy night curled up with him on Temeraire's foreleg, the great dragon had learned to speak his language as flawlessly as if he had been hatched in Shin Makoku.

He buckled the belts together to form a long strip then he handed one end to Temeraire, and climbing up into the dragon's clawed hand and waited while Temeraire put him aboard.

He scrambled across the dragon's shoulder and waited for Temeraire to hand him the other end of the improvised harness. Carefully he took the leather out of the dragon's talons and slipped the round ring links of his own belt around the leather before buckling the harness shut around Temeraire's neck, it fit a bit loosely like a dog's collar.

But at least it would hold for a short flight –

Hopefully.

Temeraire shook himself, then reared up and shook himself again; the movement jarred his every vertebrae, and flung him out of his spot, but the straps held. Cursing he pulled himself back up. He wasn't used to being on dragon back any more. He would have to work to ensure he regained all of what death and rebirth had stripped from him in terms of riding skills.

"All lies well." Temeraire said mildly, before asking "are you –quite – all right?"

Conrart was about to answer when he was interrupted by the duel screeching of Lords von Krist and von Voltaire.

Shifting his position he gazed down at his older brother and one time teacher from his lofty perch abord Temeraire's back.

"What the hell are you doing up there?" Gwendal demanded, "Get down here at once, before you break your foolish neck!"

Günter's protests on the other hand where nearly impossible to decipher. He got the gist of it but the actual wording escaped him. Although that was largly do to the fact that the man was having a bit of a melt down and as such he seemed to be tripping over the delicate art of articulation.

If Conrart hadn't known better he would have thought the other man drunk – he was tripping over his own tongue so badly.

Günter apparently wanted him 'off of the dragon', however, his several minute long speech was so badly garbled that the only words Conrart could even make heads or tails of was "off"… "Dragon"… "Thinking"… "Protected"… "Law" and "arrested." He then concluded his tirade with what Conrart could only assume was meant to be a reminder of the fact that he could be exiled or executed for daring to put a harness on a dragon – let alone riding one.

As soon as the words had left the hysterical man's mouth, he was silenced by a deafening roar from over head.

He must have put just a hint of the Divine wind behind the roar, because several small birds fell dead out of the sky.

Temeraire drew himself up to his full rather impressive height, his frill standing on end in a clear threat. Then he closed his frill with an audible snap, and lowered his head so that one immense, blue, eye was level with Günter's head. His jaws where slightly parted, revealing a mouth full of sharp, backwards curving, serrated, teeth - not a single one of them smaller than Conrart's hand. The sound issuing forth from between those jaws could only be described as a hiss – although it sounded more like cold water hitting white hot stone.

Gwendal and Günter both froze.

"Do not," Temeraire said at last, "Threaten my captain, in front of me."

He snorted, ruffling the long hair of the two members of his captive audience. Glancing around Conrart noticed that every man woman and child in the courtyard had stopped to watch. Temeraire's tongue flicked out of his mouth briefly as he tasted the air.

"I will have my Captain by me again, just as I will have a companion on my flights. He is mine, and if anything befalls my Conrart you will regret it. I must hunt." Temeraire paused briefly, before adding, "And Conrart must tell me what I can hunt."

That said he unfurled his giant fan like wings and flung himself into the air, with all the enthusiasm Conrart remembered from his dreams.